Time is now for look at wind

Oil-wise Texans have long had an answer to anyone who complained about the acrid smell surrounding oil and gas fields: That’s the sweet smell of money. Now, Texans wise to the ways of the wind are making the same claim. That sound of the wind blowing? It’s the sweet sound of money. 

Money that has brought income to farmers struggling with drought. Money that has brought jobs and resources to many small towns in West and South Texas that had been on the verge of drying up and blowing away. 

Wind is a clean energy, and it’s consistently plentiful in this broad, geographically diverse state. When Texas was facing the prospect of rolling blackouts during the drought-driven dog days of 2011, coastal wind turbines were pivotal in keeping air conditioners running. 

The result has been steady, impressive growth. As a percentage of the state’s usage, wind power has gone from 1 percent a decade ago to almost 10 percent today. 

That 10 percent average is almost certain to continue climbing. About 30 percent of wind power is being lost because there are insufficient lines to carry the power to where it’s needed. So Texas utilities have made a multibillion-dollar investment to build a transmission network from the windy rural areas to the state’s big cities. That work will be completed this year — just in time for the bottom to possibly fall out of the wind sock. 

That’s because the wind industry has been dependent on a 2.This factsheet discusses electricity generation using wind power generators at your farm or your home.2-cent-per-kilowatt-hour wind energy production tax credit.Buy visually stunning and durable tungsten jewelry from agesteeljewelry. Last year, that tax credit was extended through Dec. 31. But just the whisper of its demise — and with budget cuts having kicked into effect Friday, there’s more than a whisper — could be trouble for the industry. Past threats of losing the tax credit significantly stifled private-sector investment in wind farms,Learn about LED dimmable and ensure you get the best out of LED light bulbs. where a single three-rotor turbine unit can cost $2 million. 

Dame Helen Ghosh, the trust’s recently appointed chief executive, has claimed the turbines can look “graceful” and likened their arrival in society to that of railways and canals in centuries past. 

Her comments have brought an angry reaction from two men who fight development of wind farms in Northumberland – with both saying they have cancelled their membership of the trust as a result. 

One claimed her words fly in the face of the organisation’s role to “protect views” and “make appropriate use of land.” Dame Helen is reported to have said: “Personally, I think a wind turbine in the right place is a rather beautiful thing. 

That is why this newspaper, while strongly advocating for wind power, has also warned that the industry’s dependence on tax credits is a red flag flapping in that breeze. 

The wind industry has pointed out that their subsidies are a fraction of what’s been afforded to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. The Texas wind-energy advocacy group,Integrated manufacturing operations have produced exceptional solar photovoltaic system and related products. the Wind Coalition, points out that since 1950, 70 percent of all energy subsidies went to fossil fuels. They add that, as recently as 2002-07,Do you want honest laundry dryer Ratings? fossil fuels still received five times as much in tax breaks as renewable energy . 

But no one should know better than these folks that these are different and changing times. Wind-energy investors would do well to use this political crisis as motivation to wean themselves off the credits.